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One in 53 people arriving at Royal Surrey County Hospital in the first quarter of 2010 waited over four hours to be admitted, discharged or transferred.

During the last quarter of 2016, it was one in seven as performance dropped 13% over the period.

Even in the last quarter of 2015, it was one in 13 patients facing waits of more than four hours.

According to Government targets, just one in 20 people should be experiencing waits of more than four hours, with a target than 95% should wait less than four hours.

Royal Surrey County Hospital has faced significant challenges

The last time the trust hit that target was in the quarter ending June 2015, with 85.6% waiting less than four hours in the quarter to December 2016.

Every hospital trust in the Surrey area has seen a drop in the proportion of people waiting less than the four hours since 2010, with a 15% drop in Surrey and Sussex, and a 11% drop at Ashford and St Peter’s.

In February, 89% of people waiting for treatment at Royal Surrey had been waiting less than 18 weeks, the target is that 92% or more should wait less than 18 weeks.

The last time the trust hit the 18 week target was in May 2016, this is the longest period of consistently missing the target since December 2011.

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One in four patients who were urgently referred by their GP with suspected cancer waited more than 62 days to start treatment at Ashford and St Peter’s in February, a 17% drop in performance from one in 14 in March 2010.

The target is that one in seven people should be experiencing waits of more than two months, with a target than 85% should wait less than 62 days.

'Breaking point'

Dr Mark Porter, BMA Chair of Council, said: “The health service needs to be at the centre of the election campaign given the enormous pressure it currently faces.

"These figures underline the strain that local hospitals are facing with many struggling to provide effective care to their patients.

“With the NHS at breaking point, we need politicians of all parties to face up to the current crisis and commit to credible plans that guarantee the fully funded health service that staff and patients want to see.”

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Across England, the monthly A&E figures show 87.6% of patients waited less than four hours from arrival to discharge, admission or transfer, an improvement on the record low of 85.1% in January.

The target of 95% waiting less than four hours was last hit in July 2015, and A&E performance is 10% worse than in August 2010, when national monthly records began.

In terms of treatment waiting times, 1,583 people had been waiting more than a year for treatment at the end of Feb, the highest number since August 2012.

The target is that 92% of patients wait less than 18 weeks to start treatment, in February, 90% were waiting less than 18 weeks and the target has been missed for an entire year.

St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey (Image: TMS)

Seven out of 10 cancer targets were met in February. However, only 79.8% of patients urgently referred by their GP with suspected cancer started treatment in two months, up slightly from 79.7% in January, the worst performance on record, missing the target that 85% or more should start treatment in 62 days for the 14th month in a row.

Performance on the urgent cancer waiting time target is 10% worse than in March 2010.

However, February saw the best performance in terms of waits for diagnostic tests since the target that less than 1% of patients wait less than six weeks was last hit in November 2013, as the target was almost hit in February at 1.04%.

There were 6,797 patients delayed leaving hospital on the last Thursday of February, better than the record number of 7,106 delayed in January.

However, numbers are a fifth higher than in February 2016, and two-fifths higher than in August 2010.